Scene still for the film “The Illegals” (1948)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
Creator(s)
- Americans for Haganah (Production Company)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
- Mayer-Burstyn, Inc. (Distributor)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The scene still was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
American scene still for the film, “The Illegals,” which was released in the United States in July 1948. The docudrama depicts the attempted illegal immigration of Jewish refugees from Poland, through Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, and Italy to Palestine. Before reaching its destination, the ship is captured by the British and redirected to Cyprus. “The Illegals” was filmed on-location over a six-month period, about two months before the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948. Britain had been given control of Palestine following World War I, and severely restricted the immigration of Jewish refugees, who wanted to establish a new Jewish State. This led many refugees to enter the country via “illegal” or “clandestine” immigration on ships. The director, Meyer Levin, his cameraman, Bertrand Hesse, and the two lead actors, embedded themselves in the real-life journey of refugees. After British authorities captured the ship, they arrested Levin and Hesse, and seized their footage. Although Levin was able to recover the footage, in the decades that followed, the film was dissected and lost. In the 1990s, the Spielberg Jewish Film Archive was able to reconstruct most of the full-length feature. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Black-and-white photographic scene still with a white margin on all four sides. In the lower left, a woman with short, dark, curly hair is sitting against a wall, visible from the chest up. She is wearing a striped top and holding up a mug with one hand. She is looking up at a dark-haired man, who is leaning over her, on the right side of the photograph. A wooden bunk frame is in the background, over which the photograph has been hand-colored with a gray paint. There is also a semi transparent layer of gray coloring over the woman’s mug, partially obscuring it. Black paint has been applied to the still to accentuate the woman’s eyes, hair, and shoulders, as well as the man’s nose. There are red ink stains in the bottom margin and in the top center of the image. The still has a large, vertical crease in the lower right portion and some small surface losses in the top center of the photo. On the back, a rectangular sheet of cream-colored paper is adhered in the center with tape. The sheet has a short, typed paragraph in the center, with larger numbers and letters above and below, handwritten pencil and black ink. Above, is a large inscription, also written in pencil. Three small, typed labels with barcodes printed on white, rectangular stickers are adhered over the inscription, obscuring it. Adhered to the bottom of the photograph are two small newspaper clippings and the remains of a small, yellowed label that appears to be printed backwards. Depicted: Tereska Torres as Sara Wilner, Yankel Mikalowitch as Mika Wilner
back, top left corner, printed on label, black ink : Jay Parrino’s The Mint, LLC / [barcode] / IK769 back, top left corner, printed on label, black ink : CULVER PICTURES, INC. / 150 West 22nd Street – 3rd Floor / New York, NY 10011-2421 / 212 645-1672 / This picture is loaned for one-time reproduction only, subject to terms / and conditions on delivery memo. No model release unless specified - / may not be used for advertising without written permission. / Use barcode number in all correspondence. / Original must be returned within 30 days. / Obligatory Credit Line: CULVER PICTURES back, top right corner, printed on label, black ink : HIS047 CP001 050 Hist-World: Israel / Origin:Culver Pictures Inc Old# Print BW / History: Israel / [barcode] back, top center, handwritten, black ink : Ill[egals] [obscured] back, center, printed on label, black ink : 31- Yankel Mikalowitch and Tereska Torres plan to rebuild their lives / after she tells him she is going to be a mother in a scene from “The / Illegals,” the actual filming of the Jewish exodus from Europe to Palestine / via the underground railway. back, center, handwritten on label, graphite and black ink : 20 2 Star / MP/ back, bottom left corner, printed on newsprint, black ink : TERESKA TORRES is featured / in the Meyer Levin production, / The Illegals, beginning today at / the City in Manhattan, the Ascot / in the Bronx, and the Marcy, / Parkside, Utica and Century’s / Vogue in Brooklyn. back, bottom right corner, printed in newsprint, black ink : ‘THE ILLEGALS’: Tereska Torres and Yankel Mikalowitch / make plans to rebuild their lives in the Meyer Levin production / at the Ambassador. back, bottom, printed backwards, black ink : Form A17 10M 5-48 [illegible union label] 118
People
- Torrès, Tereska.
- Levin, Meyer, 1905-1981.
Subjects
- United States.
- Documentary films.
- Italy.
- Poland.
- Austria.
- Jews in motion pictures.
- Foreign language films.
- Emigration and immigration in motion pictures.
- Lost films.
- Amateur films in motion pictures.
- Zionism in motion pictures.
- Immigrants in motion pictures.
- Refugees in motion pictures.
- Palestine.
- Holocaust survivors in motion pictures.
Genre
- Film Stills.
- Photographs
- Object